Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Navy publishes free graphic novel about combat stress

The Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) has published a 200-page graphic novel (available for free to Navy and Marine personnel by mail or to all online) to help Corpsmen understand "the stresses of combat deployments."

"The Docs" The graphic novel tells the stories of four fictional corpsmen as an illustration of "military life within a combat zone."

"Since the start of combat operations in the Middle East, Navy Medicine recognized that expeditionary hospital corpsmen have extremely high exposure to the many significant stressors of war, both acute and chronic," said Capt. Greg Utz, NHRC commanding officer, in a press release about the project. "Their dual roles as caregivers and combatants puts them at high risk for stress injuries, so we developed this graphic novel as an innovative way to help our Sailors prepare for and interpret situations they may see in theater."

I've read "The Docs," and it's rather amateurishly illustrated and written, and obviously more of a PR-related pro-military device than a truly honest work, but it still packs some truth and reality and a few surprising moments. I'd say it's worth a look, at least as a starting point, but anyone who really wants to know about "combat stress" needs to go a lot further.